SEASONS - SUMMER OFFICIALLY ARRIVES TODAY - LET'S GET THE MUSIC STARTED

(Writing and photography by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

W. H. Auden once said that music is the best means we have of digesting time. I couldn't agree more, especially in the summer time.  What a perfect time to enjoy everything that there is about music. 

It is a lot of fun to start the summer with an open-air outdoor concert.  Choose any group that intrigues you. There is just something about gathering together with a group of friends, walking through the woods to an open meadow, lugging your lounge chairs and blankets and food  with you.  Then you simply spread the blankets on the ground and enjoy one of your favorite beverages while you watch the sun start to set as you wait on the music to begin. Endings and beginnings always work well together.  There is something magical about it.   It is such a summer moment.  It is great fun to watch expressions and greetings as the people begin to file into the area and the crowd begins to grow in numbers.  Sitting in the summer breeze and relaxing for awhile gets you into a perfectly mellow mood that causes you to want to sing along when the music begins to happen.
  

 There is even something thrilling about watching the sound team fine tune every piece of the finest sound equipment that technology has to offer, until finally the band bursts forth onto the stage and jump into their first song as the crowd goes wild with excitement.  People's faces light up with anticipation, and there is a sudden sense that we all are one, just for a moment in time.  Everyone loves the song, and everyone claps and sings along.  It could be happening in an open meadow, or it could be somewhere on the beach, the mood is always the same, fun and upbeat.  For just a few hours, there is nothing but the music. No worries, no cares.  This is the magic of summer. 

 Sometimes the music is pop, or rock, country, or classical; it really makes no difference, the feeling is always the same.  Music just makes people happy.  Sometimes the concert is in the park, or even on the sidewalk of a city, or outside a quaint little cafe. 

Alabama can claim a very rich musical history.  The state is full of stories of how music was made in the world of jazz and blues.  This is the place where "The 20th Century Gabriel" Erskine Hawkins lived and led his band back in 1939.  We can boast of the landmark for the famous song called "Tuxedo Junction."  The song is about a jazz and blues club in the Birmingham suburb of Ensley. The area is referred to as "Tuxedo Junction", even though the building is called the "Nixon Building" (built in 1922). This is due to the location of a streetcar crossing at Tuxedo Park, hence "Tuxedo Junction". The empty building still stands at 1728 20th Street as a testament to the musical heritage of the area.  He is only one of many jazz singers who got their start right in Alabama, and more than likely, they were made famous under the skies full of southern sunshine that we all still love to listen to their music under. 

Some of my favorite musical memories as a young teenager happened during the summers when we loaded up a car full of kids and headed off to an event sponsored by the local radio station called "The Shower of Stars."  I didn't realize at the time that I was actually living through musical history, as some of those "unknown at the time" groups were The Eagles, Three Dog Night, Patsy Cline, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, Lou Christie, Roy Clark, The Loving Spoonful, Herman's Hermits, Paul Revere and The Raiders, The Animals, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, The Guess Who, Rare Earth, The Carpenters, just to name a few.  Many got their first break at those local concerts I attended back in the day.

Then there was always "The Hangout" at the beach.  It was a little different in our time.  You gathered up on a concrete pavilion raised out of the sand on the shore, fed a juke box, and danced until your parents came by and "collected you," much to your embarrassment.  The most requested dance song was a folk-rock song written by Bob Dylan called "Quinn The Eskimo" or better known as "The Mighty Quinn."  A lot of arguments are still out there over exactly who Quinn the Eskimo was, but we didn't care. We only wanted to dance the night away.  

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that my grown children are now frequenting a musical festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama every year called "The Hangout."  It is a large gathering of popular musicians on the beach.  They always have a blast.  I'm glad their summers are in some ways similar to those beach days I once enjoyed.  The memories you make with your friends are priceless.  The songs never leave your heart. 

I have a few less sizzling, yet still quite pleasurable memories of an outdoors Lee Greenwood concert we took my parents to on my Dad's birthday one year.  It was in a time when The Alabama Symphony was doing a series that still continues today called "Music Under The Stars."  These were all held at local parks at night and accompanied by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.  They were great!  I left the Lee Greenwood concert feeling quite proud to be an American, and there were even fireworks that lit up the night sky at the end.  I'm told a similar event is coming this summer to Railroad Park.  Just check out the website for The Alabama Symphony Orchestra. 

There is another small residential park in Chelsea, Alabama where we have enjoyed some great classical music.  This was during the times where the symphony was performing "Pops In The Park."  We were served wine and popcicles, and there were also fireworks at the end.  One of my favs was a night when they did broadway musical songs with lots of Disney tunes. 

Yes, summers should definitely be filled with music.  I've really come to appreciate all the local church events in the area that feature great Christian music too.  Nothing could be better than being in a whole crowd of born-again Christians singing "Shout To The Lord" at the top of their voices while lifting their hands in praise.  Then there are those quieter, sweeter times, like the times at camp when you go to the outdoor chapel and everyone sings a cappella; so beautiful!  So moving! 

There is nothing like it.

But you really don't have to leave the comort of home in order to enjoy the music of summer.  If you have a front porch and can find an old record player, just invite a few friends over for lemonade and ice cream.  Make the front porch swing the box-office seats, designate a good DJ to spin the albums, and enjoy your own favorite tunes! 

If you have been a bit too modern lately and need to revamp your old album collection, there are a number of awesome used music stores in the Birmingham area.  I highly recommend you visit Charlemagne's in the 5 Points South area.  I'll warn you though, you won't be able to do this without staying awhile.  The music available is amazing!  It is like stepping back into a time capsule.  For 35 years they have been bringing the coolest music to Birmingham's southside.  They buy, sell and trade records, CDs, DVDs and books.  It is well worth the trip down memory lane to visit this establishment, and I'll bet you will not leave empty handed; nor will you have to break the bank to pay. 

So what's stopping you? 

Get everyone together and start enjoying the music of summer!

Keep a song in your heart all summer long!

SEASONS - A TIME FOR HONORING OUR FATHERS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Fathers are our greatest national resource, but is anyone out there listening?  Do we step over and walk through gold mines every day in order to mine coal?   Are we listening to all the wrong voices and all the wrong answers?  Next to God and the Bible, good fathers are our greatest source of wisdom.  What has happened to priorities when it comes to honoring our fathers?  The Holy Scriptures speak loudly to us of the fact that our children’s hearts can be molded when they turn their hearts to their fathers.  The strong reasoning behind this statement is that when their children’s lives are at stake, a Father’s heart is always true.  A true father will lay down his life for the sake of his children.  You can trust this statement.
 
It took a long time and a lot of hard work by many people for Father’s Day to become official in the United States.   The first unofficial celebration of Father’s Day happened in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910.  It seems that was the day that Sonora Smart Dodd decided to celebrate and honor the life of her father, William Jackson Smart, who was a civil war veteran as well as a single parent. It seems that Mr. Smart was an amazing man who raised six children all by himself.  The idea of celebrating and honoring fathers caught on locally after that event; but it took quite a while for it to catch on nationally.

The trend really grew in the areas of Spokane, Washington.  After speaking to a crowd in Spokane in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson suggested that Father’s Day be made a national holiday.  Congress resisted for fear that the day would become commercialized.  In 1924 the same idea was suggested again by President Calvin Coolidge, but it was once more pushed aside.  A Senator from Main, Margaret Chase Smith, became offended by the fact that mothers were always honored on a special national holiday, but never fathers.  She wrote a long letter to Congress expressing her concern about this in 1957.  She pointed out that the country had been ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers.  In the end the official establishment of Father’s Day as a national holiday took as long as the time it took for Moses to lead The Children of Israel to The Promised Land!  Time kept marching on without an official declaration of a national Father's Day. 

Finally, in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation to honor fathers, and proclaimed the third Sunday in June Father’s Day in America.  It took six more years for that to become official, but in 1972 President Richard Nixon signed it into law.   Now that is quite a lot of history for such an important day! 

I have to agree with Margaret Chase Smith!  Where would we all be today without the love of our dear Fathers?  Good fathers are the most important factor we possess to change the downward spiral and wrong direction of our nation.  Maybe if we take more time to honor them, they all will begin to realize their importance and step up to bat for all of us.   Can you imagine an America where all fathers decided to step up and take charge of their homes, children, churches, government, communities and work places?  For too long their vital council in our lives has been ignored, pushed aside and trampled on by those who wish to push an evil and perverted agenda onto our society with no thought or concern for others or the future of all. 

America, our fathers matter.  If you are one of the many brave fathers with strong convictions and morals who has been forced to take a stand in the public schools, or your local community activities, or the governmental changes taking place, or the leadership of your local church congregation, you understand very well what I mean and how important your actions are for the benefit and well being of all.  Sometimes the role of a father is a very lonely, unrewarding place to be, but the importance of input from mature wise men that have learned how to raise decent families is critical at this time in America's history.   The fathers who step up, take charge and act will make a difference in the future.  It may be a very long, hard battle sometimes, but thank God for men who are willing to stay in the trenches and fight for their families.  

I know they still exist.  There are still a lot of selfless, bold, courageous men out there; we just aren’t hearing about them from the media anymore.  My own Dad was one of those individuals.  I have always been very proud of his honesty and his ability to stand alone if needed in making hard decisions for our family.  I’ve always known I could count on his integrity and his ability to distinguish right from wrong.  I will not have my Dad physically with me this Father's Day and he will be greatly missed.  He will be celebrating Father's Day with his own Father in Heaven though, what could be better for him?   

My husband is also from this special breed of men who puts the needs of others before his own personal needs and gain.  His "Pop" was of the same good character.  Both my husband and I are blessed with brothers who have desired to be good fathers and to do the right things for their families.  Now we have wonderful son-in-laws who are following these great examples.  We are among the blessed.  I am forever thankful for this fact.  They are rare, these good fathers, but these men are still fighting their daily battles and working very hard to keep the dying dreams of America alive and well.  So much is different and unique in the world of true fathers.  These men actually work for a living.  They don’t depend on the government for handouts.  Instead they serve the government honorably by taking jobs that promote the welfare of all.  Their hard earned tax money is the money that goes into the government's tills and takes care of all those who aren't able to provide for their own.  They actually want it to be useful, fair and beneficial to all people.  They very seriously go to the polls and vote for good men that they think will best handle the huge responsibility of our government and our freedom.  Yes, they work even in this strange economy where jobs are not plentiful, these men still get up and go out every day and look for ways to make a living for their families.  They don't throw up their hands and give up.  If their field of expertise isn’t hiring anymore, and most of them are not, they are not ashamed to get their hands dirty and do hard labor in order to feed those that they love.  Men over fifty have never worked so hard for so little as right now in America.  They take what work they can find and they gladly do a good job.  They look for honest ways to make ends meet.  In the middle of this whole process, you might see them often doing without so that others may have what they need.  You won't hear them complaining about not having enough.  They keep their eyes open, they are always searching  for ways to make things better. 

The true Fathers of our country have learned to appreciate the things in life that have no price tags, and they teach their children to do the same.  They expect their children to have comparable work ethics.  They teach them to appreciate the value of a dollar, and they also teach them to balance that with a Sabbath rest.  They learned from their true fathers to set aside one day in seven to honor the Father of All.  They give a tenth of all they have, even if it is not much, to the work that The Father is blessing.   These brave men aren’t afraid to speak up and say “I believe in God .”  They do not have qualms about praying out loud in public places, and they can’t understand how anyone could be offended by their Great and Awesome God, or not want to hear the Name of Jesus at the end of their prayers. 

None of these fathers minded fighting for this country, and risking their lives for our freedom.  They can see the downward spiral of America taking place, but they still pray for change, they act on change and they still dream of a better day to come.  They believe that sometimes the impossible is possible.  They will defend your right to speak your mind, and they will uphold the law of the land.  They believe in being fair and just.  They don’t see colors when they look at people’s skin, instead they see hearts.  They have a code of honor and respect for treating all of God’s creatures with dignity.  They do not tolerate violence.  They do everything possible to make the world a safe place.  They know there are good people out there with overwhelming problems and they are always there to share and lend a helping hand.  They understand hard circumstances, they have lived there for a long time too.  They show kindness and mercy to all.  They will give you the shirt off their back if they think you need it.  They understand what it is like to be young and inexperienced and not know what to do next.  They are wise. and they gladly share their wisdom with those willing to listen.   

These good mature men are slow to speak and quick to listen.  They use their hands and feet to put action to their words.  They won’t let you walk alone.   They are not critical and judgmental with their help; but they love with the same mercy and kindness shown by the Father that they serve from heaven.  They know that sometimes the only thing that works is tough love.  They grit their teeth and enforce this tough love, even if sometimes it tears them apart inside.  They do whatever it takes to accomplish the right end.  They never give up.  

Yes, some of these honorable and true fathers are still out there.    You may not hear about them in the news, and they may be quiet as they go through their days, and you may not always notice what is going on with them.  They are men of action, and they let their actions speak for themselves.  They don’t need your approval, they don’t need you to remind them what to do, it comes with the title.  They take the title of "Father" seriously. 

These real men don’t mind coming home from twelve hours of hard labor and pitching a softball for two hours with a young boy trying to make the team.   These real men still compliment their wives when they put food on the table every night, even if it is just beans and cornbread.  They often help wash the dishes.  These men are thankful for a heart willing to tend to a family and a partner who cares about the importance of making a home.  These men who are tempted everyday by the rampant evil activities of this selfish and ungodly world that we live in, the world of pornography, free and easy sex and casual affairs, and they turn their heads and walk away.  You won't find the perversions of the world creeping into their homes through the back door.  They live on a higher plane.  These are not the things that motivate their hearts.  They still know the meaning of a marriage vow, and they meant it when they said “I do” on their wedding day.  

I'm talking about a group of men who will sell everything they have in order to get medical treatment for a sick child; and the ones who will sacrifice the boat, the new car, the motorcycle or the second home in order to make sure their son or daughter gets a college education.   Yet you will discover that education to them is more than the stuff you can find in books and on a college campus.  They teach their children the important things of life at home, and their homework assignments are extensive.  They instruct them and prepare them for a world that would love to prey on their youth.  They leave the communication lines open with their families.  These real fathers are not unapproachable people.  These are men who have spent a lifetime listening to their children’s hearts, and they know how to help them when the time of their need arrives.   

These are men who take in elderly parents when they come to the point in life where they can no longer help themselves.  They will give up their privacy in order to care for the aging and dying and those who need some extra care.  They will show honor and respect and decency to those who have walked life’s journey before them.  These real fathers appreciate the value of the legacy of love that others have left behind.  There is no price tag on this loyalty.  It comes with the package, totally free of charge.

On Father’s Day, these are the real men, the true fathers that I look up to.  These are the men who I chose to honor.  I also chose to honor the Greatest Father of All, the One from whom these great fathers draw their strength and wisdom.  Does it matter at all?  Yes, I think it matters most of all.   

I think Sonora Smart Dodd had an excellent idea back in 1910.   I'm glad our country finally woke up and cooperated with her, and I wish to see that spirit renewed in America.  God gave us some very helpful advice when He wrote those word on stone tablets;  “ Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the earth.”  

I pray that every true father in America will be honored this year.  Thank you for being real men.  May God create more of you!   We are forever grateful for all you do.  Our future is in your hands.  We have not forgotten, though we do not say it often enough.    You are loved and respected.  We appreciate all you do as well as who you are.

Happy Father's Day!

  .

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 124 - LOCUSTS AND HEAVY DARKNESS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I wonder what was going through the mind of Moses in the middle of all the plagues of Egypt?  Of course he would have been realizing how powerful his God is, and I'm sure he would have been thankful for the fact that God was not punishing the Israelites along with the Egyptians.  Do you think he ever wondered how long and how many plagues he was going to have to predict to Pharaoh?

As we have studied Moses in the act of helping God deliver Egypt, we have seen the river turn to blood.  We have seen frogs and gnats and flies.  We have seen the people have to deal with boils.  We have seen the death of livestock and hail.  All of these plagues have come upon Egypt because of Pharaoh’s hard heart.  

A funny thing is happening now though; God keeps telling Moses that He is the One who has been hardening the heart of Pharaoh and his officials! God doesn't say this every time; but many of the times He does.  Why would God harden someone’s heart?  Would that not be taking away their free will?  We are told that God gives us free will and lets us make our own choices.  Seems very strange for God to be doing this.  

In the beginning of Chapter ten of Exodus God explains His actions.  He is doing all of this for a reason!  It is so that He may perform his signs among the Egyptians and right in front of the Israelites so that Moses can see and tell his children and grandchildren how God dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how God performed signs among them!  It was so Moses and his children and grandchildren and all of the people of Israel might KNOW that God was God, and the ONE TRUE GOD was teaching His people the first commandment – "Thou Shalt Have No Other God’s Before Me."  Moses and Aaron were the two witnesses who could claim that they were actually there on the scene when God showed Egypt his power and might and sovereignty.

Even way back before God formally called Israel out and gave them the ten commandments, He was beginning to teach the people the best way to live.  The beginning of knowing the best way to live is to know, believe and recognize that God is above all and over all.  It was VERY important for God to get His people to see and understand that He did not want them worshiping pagan gods and He did not want them to put any other gods before Him.  God was calling out a people to be His own special nation, a nation set  to bring the whole world to salvation in the end.  He needed them to start out believing in His sovereignty.    

This lesson of the best way to live was SO IMPORTANT to God that He was willing to use some stubborn, selfish people who were deceiving others in order to teach the rest of the people the truth.  The truth was that Pharaoh wasn't really in charge!  God was in charge!  Pharaoh and his people had always worshiped false pagan gods and now THE REAL GOD was showing the Egyptians as well as His own people which of all the gods was REAL.  Not only did God want this generation of Israelites to know and recognize Him as THE ONE GOD; He also wanted them to pass down this truth to every generation that came after them.

And you know what?  It has happened just as God proclaimed it should happen.  Each year as we celebrate the Passover Seder, we teach our children about the plagues of Egypt.  We get detailed so they can know exactly WHO the God of the Hebrews is that we now worship and they can make a distinction between the REAL God and the false gods.  They can see in the story the consequences of believing in each.  Through the story of the plagues they understand the sovereignty of God.  They see that the REAL God brings life.  They see that the false gods bring death.  What could be more important to be teaching our children?  It is a lesson that is reviewed in detail every year, just as God has commanded.  Just as God was teaching the Children of Israel way back when; so we must be teaching today!  

God intended for this to be one of the first lessons to children in learning how to worship.  It is vitally important.  I say this from my own experiences.  Yet; today as I look around I also see these lessons have been set aside by many as unimportant and "something that happened to the Jews a long time ago, that do not pertain to us now."  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Though it is not openly spoken of you can see the seeping into our culture of the ways of pagan gods.  This is out there surrounding us every day, it is just not mentioned.  It is hardly noticed because we have become accustomed to it all.  You almost get the feeling of "if you ignore it, it will go away."  The worst thing a culture can do when paganism is seeping in is to ignore the situation.  That is exactly what Satan wants to happen.  That is what happened with the Egyptians, and God was not about to let that happen to the Israelites too.  They were to continue to KNOW the TRUTH and pass it down to all of their generations.  The fate of the world hinged on this one fact.    

Think about this as you study the rest of the story, and later we will go into the prophetic meaning of all of these plagues.  God had more than one reason for us to notice these details.  They may mean the difference in how we survive in the end times; but more on that later.  Let's get back to following Moses and hear the rest of what happened with Pharaoh. 

So Moses and Aaron went again to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says : “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?  Let my people go so that they may worship me.  If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow.  They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen.  They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.  They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians – something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.”

Moses turned and left Pharaoh to chew on those words.

Pharaoh’s officials were standing there with him and they turned to Pharaoh and asked him “How long will this man be a snare to us?  Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God.  Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”

So they brought Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh and he told them to “Go, worship the LORD your God, but tell me who will be going.”

And Moses told Pharaoh that they would go with their young and their old, their sons and their daughters, and their flocks and their herds, because they were to celebrate a festival to the LORD.  Today we know this festival as The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread.  It occurs on the days following Passover and is considered part of the Passover festival.  The ancient Hebrews were the first to partake of a week of unleavened bread right after the first Passover happened in Egypt.  When this festival is celebrated we remember coming out of Egypt, leaving sin behind.  The leaven in the bread is symbolic of sin; and it is left out; just as happened with the Israelites we will hear about later in this story.  It is symbolic today of our desire to leave pagan gods and their ways out of our lives and stay true to The One God of Heaven and Earth.   We will speak further of this as we go along in the continuing story of how Moses led the people out of Egypt.  Right now, Pharaoh is being extremely difficult and hard-hearted again!

At first Pharaoh said “The Lord be with you.”  Then he hesitated and asked out loud, “If I let you go, along with your women and children………..Well….  Clearly you are bent on evil!  No!  Have only the men go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been asking for.”

After Pharaoh decided that only the men could go; Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.  That wasn't what God had commanded.  It would NOT work.  The Passover isn't just for the men, though it IS an annual requirement for every head of each household.  It is set in place for ALL THE HOUSEHOLD; each family including men, women, boys and girls, young and old alike.  All are invited to be a part of God's table, and God's feast and festivals.  God had declared that ALL of the people be allowed to go out to the wilderness and proclaim a festival to worship Him.  

Because of this mistake on Pharaoh's part, God said to Moses; “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the LORD made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night.  By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all of Egypt and they settled down in every area of the country in great numbers.  There has never been a plague with so many locusts; nor will there ever be such a plague again!  

The locusts were so many that the ground was black as they covered it.  They devoured everything in sight, everything growing in the fields and on the fruit trees.  Nothing green remained on a tree or a plant anywhere in the land of Egypt. 

When Pharaoh saw this he panicked!  He summoned Moses and Aaron and said that he had sinned against their God and against them.  Pharaoh asked them to forgive him once more and he also asked them to pray to the LORD to take away the deadly plague.

 

Moses prayed to the LORD and the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. 

The swarms of locusts were all gone now; but again the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let the Israelites go!

This being the case; the LORD told Moses to stretch out his hand toward the sky so that darkness spread over Egypt.  

It was a darkness that could actually be felt.  

When Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky the total darkness covered all of Egypt for three whole days.  No one could see anyone else or move about for three days.  Still, during this same time,all of the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

 

Once again Pharaoh called to Moses and told him to “Go worship the LORD.  Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”

Moses explained to Pharaoh that they must have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD God. Who goes to a festival without an offering?   Moses explained that in order to do this the livestock must go with them; all of them.  They would need them for sacrifices as well as food for the festival.   And when he said this the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart again.  He was not willing to let them go.  He told Moses to get out of his sight!  Pharaoh said he never wanted Moses to come to appear before him again!  He threatened to kill him if he ever saw his face again.  

“Just as you say,” Moses replied.  “I will never appear before you again.”  

It can be noted that Moses never again appeared before Pharaoh.  Now Pharaoh had no one to intercede between him and God.  He was isolated without any help.  Sometimes God isolates us without help in order to draw us unto Him and help us to come to our senses.  This didn't seem to work with Pharaoh.  Unless Pharaoh learned to speak directly to the REAL God of Heaven and Earth instead of his fake gods; he and Egypt were doomed.  Pharaoh had made a very bad decision in giving up his intercessor.  It was totally up to Pharaoh to turn to God and change things for Egypt.  Pharaoh wasn't learning the lesson.     

Don’t you know Moses was glad to go?  I’m sure he was pretty tired of having to deal with Pharaoh!  Do you have any Pharaoh's in your life?  Deal with them as long as God bids you to do so; then leave when God tells you to "go."  Only God knows if they will ever turn or not.

So now we have seen the Egyptians go through two more plagues; one of locusts and one of total thick darkness that could be felt.  

Why do you think God sent locusts and thick darkness on the land? 

The plague of the locusts focused on Nut, Osirus and Set, the false gods of the harvest.  The locusts took away all of the crops, leaving nothing for harvest.  The wheat and rye, the latter crops that had survived the hail were all gone now.  These are the crops that God's people always see around Pentecost.  They always brought an offering of barley at Passover and the wheat offering was offered at Pentecost; but Pharaoh's people in Egypt did not have any crops left to give to their fake gods.  Only the people of The One True God of Heaven and Earth had sufficient sacrifices and they were the only people now willing to offer them up!  

There was absolutely nothing left to harvest in all the land of Egypt.  Where were the gods of the harvest that usually protected their crops?  This is clearly a case of God saying He is the only real God.  It was as much for the Israelites to see as the Egyptians.  God intended for the Israelites to tell these stories to their children and grandchildren in order that the truth of God would be passed down from generation to generation and the horrid mistakes of the Egyptians of worshiping the wrong gods would never be repeated again.

The plague of the darkness was clearly an 'in the face' move of God toward the most worshiped pagan god named Ra.  Ra was the god of the sun.  There was no more sun!  For there days thick darkness covered the earth.  The sun god was dead!  There was no sign of Ra anywhere.

God was clearly showing that these false gods were not real gods.  They did not even exist.  They were imaginary in every way, and they had no power at all.  All of the things they stood for were turned on them and they never showed up to defend themselves!   What better proof could be offered?   

Ra was the god that was supposed to be Pharaoh’s ancestor.  That was where the power of Pharaoh was supposed to come from.  There clearly was no power passed down from Ra to Pharaoh, for Pharaoh was helpless now and sitting in the darkness without even the light of his false god.  Only the Israelites had light.  That is because the REAL God of the Hebrews is the Father of lights.  In HIM there is no darkness at all.  The Israelites could see clearly while the Egyptians groped around in the darkness.  Pharaoh had no one to turn to this time; not even Moses.

SEASONS - A SOUTHERN STYLE FATHER'S DAY GATHERING

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

June 19th will be a time to get the whole family together for Father's Day 2016.  We are blessed in that we will be spending the weekend with our daughter who lives in another state and bringing our grandson back home with us for a week of fun activities.  That also means all of the other three kids will be seeing my husband all of the next week too!  Large families are so much fun, the activities never end.  

This year will be very different for me.  My Father has a new residence in heaven; so I will not be able to physically to be with him.  He is still such a part of who I am, so I know he will be with me in spirit.  I will be cherishing all of the special memories I have of celebrating with him in the past, and I will be appreciating all of the wonderful fathers of relatives and friends that are still with us on planet earth.  

There are lots of new and almost new Dad's in our family circle this year, so that happy thought counters the sadness of missing my own Dad.  

It will be a great year to focus on honoring my own husband's great job of being an awesome father to our grown children, and a good time for honoring two of my favorite Dad's; the fathers of my two and one-half grand children!  We are so proud of our grandchildren, and so very proud of their Dads!  What a blessing it has been for us to have them in our family.  Words cannot express how perfect it feels.

It is also a very significant day for my own husband, since he is looking around and realizing the positive proof of all of his hard work and efforts over the years in raising four of the most wonderful kids on earth.  I want him to have a very special day full of blessings.  No one could have ever imagined a better father than he has been to our children.  I marvel at how they have all turned into great adults that care about God's Kingdom and the world around them.  Most of the credit goes to the excellent guidance they have received from their father.  I am grateful, and I know they are!

One of my favorite Father's Day memories is from a Sunday afternoon when my Dad was still living, when we celebrated a Southern Style Father's Day.  Here are the notes I penned from that memory when it was happening several years back.  I'll warn you, there is NOTHING healthy about this meal; but hey, we are celebrating, right?

I think it might have been Father's Day 2011:

 If we get everyone together in one place, then we won't have to go to so many places and we will all enjoy each other's company together for a longer time, right?  The more the merrier!  

I've called the kids and the parents.  I left out my red, white and blue decorations after Memorial Day because my Dad is a veteran, and he enjoys our country's colors, not to mention the fact that I won't have to redecorate for Independence Day!  It was great to have these decorations around to celebrate Flag Day too.  Somehow summer events just seem to coordinate without even trying hard.  I like for the atmosphere at home to be a lot less formal and very laid-back for summer, and all of this works well together.  I like to pretend we live in a beach cottage even though we are actually several hours from the sea; and I try to take full advantage of any outdoor activities I can make happen in the summer.  

Now it is time to focus on Father's Day.  I think we will go Southern Style.....

My husband likes to drink his coffee from these Christmas mugs all year - I've quit trying to change that!

 I feel strongly that our fathers deserve a place of honor.  They should have their own special day in which to be treated like kings.  

I've included a few candid photos of our family's Father's.  You will notice from most of these pics that they all have one great trait in common; they like to have fun and they like to make family memories!  Many of these pics are not from Father's Day, but just from times that they were very busy BEING fathers.

This year I plan to express our sentiments to the Dads by having an "after-church -southern-style-luncheon."  

I think "southern style" will definitely suit the mood and style of our Dads this year.   I've found a few great tried and true old southern recipes and put together the menu.   You will notice that many of the recipes use buttermilk.  This is because my Dad LOVES buttermilk.  He loves it so much that our kids have always teased him about it.  One year for Christmas they wrapped up a quart of buttermilk and gave it to him for a present because they said "there is nothing you would like better than this quart of buttermilk!"  They had to keep his gift in the refrigerator for a few days!  We have laughed about that day a lot over the years, and that is why I always try to chose a few "buttermilk" recipes for Father's Day. 

SOUTHERN STYLE FATHERS DAY MENU

Appetizers:  Cheese Truffles with a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Tray

Drinks:  Tea/Water, Wine for the ladies and Elephant Beer for the guys. - (one of my husband's favorite flavors of beer), Sweet Tea, Lemonade and Cold Ice Water

Salads:  Watermelon Surprise AND Old South Potato Salad

Bread:  Homemade Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits with Gravy

Main Course:  Southern Fried Buttermilk Chicken

Side 1:  Carrot Souffle

Side 2:  Garden Fresh Baked Zucchini

Dessert: Strawberry Ice Box Cake AND Fig Cake With Buttermilk Glaze

CHEESE TRUFFLES

Apples, sliced

Pears, sliced

Grapes

1 cup bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled

Pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

4 teaspoons finely chopped onions

2 containers (4 oz.) Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

Combine cream cheese, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce and pepper in a bowl and beat with a mixer until well blended.  Cover and chill for several hours.  Roll the cheese mixture into round balls.  Roll the round balls in the crumbled bacon.  Serve on a platter of apple and pear slices with grapes surrounding it all. 

WATERMELON SURPRISE

1 pkg. baby lettuce, washed

6 cups watermelon, cubed without the seeds

1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup pepper jelly

1 Tablespoon lime juice

2 Tablespoons grated onion

In a bowl whisk together the rice wine vinegar, pepper, salt, pepper jelly, lime juice and grated onion.  Slowly pour the vegetable oil into this mixture. Stir well.   Add the baby lettuce and cubed watermelon to the mix and saturate well.  Cover and keep refrigerated until time to serve.  Remove to a serving platter.  After arranging on the platter, sprinkle with toasted pecans and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.  This is very tasty and makes a lovely and colorful presentation.

                                                                           SOUTHERN STYLE BISCUITS

1/4 cup shortening
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
melted butter
Cut shortening into flour with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly.  Add buttermilk, stirring together until moistened.  Roll out dough 1/2 inch thick.  Cut with 2-inch round cutter.  Place on greased baking sheet.  Brush with melted butter.  Bake at 425 degrees for 14 minutes.  Serve with brown gravy if desired, as well as some homemade preserves.

SOUTHERN FRIED BUTTERMILK CHICKEN

(This takes 3 days if you do it right, and will feed about 10 people)

2-3 lb. fryers cut up into pieces

4 cups buttermilk

6 Tablespoons crushed garlic

6 Tablespoons onion flakes

1/3 cup parsley

1/3 cup thyme

1/3 cup tarragon

1 Teaspoon paprika

4 cups flour

1 Tablespoon pepper

6 cups vegetable shortening

Step 1 (first night) - Brine your chicken pieces in kosher salt and water overnight.

Step 2 (second night)- Soak the brinned chicken in mixture of buttermilk, garlic, onion flakes, parsley, thyme, tarragon and paprika overnight.

Step 3 (third night) - Drain chicken, leaving residue of spices on chicken.  Fill a paper sack full of the flour with a little pepper mixed in.  Put the chicken pieces in the large brown bag of flour and shake.  Let sit for five minutes then shake again.  Melt vegetable shortening into a large iron skillet.  Fry chicken until crispy and brown on both sides (about 20 minutes for each side).  Remove to a paper towel lined tray.  Cover tray, cool and refrigerate until next day. 

Step 4 - Wrap chicken in foil. Heat in the stove at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Remove, place in a decorative serving dish and serve while hot. 

CARROT SOUFFLE

2 pounds carrots, chopped

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

ground cinnamon

Boil carrots in water until tender.  Drain.  Mash carrots and butter.  Add sugar and eggs.  Beat at medium speed with electric mixer 2 minutes.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Pour into greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour .

OLD SOUTH POTATO SALAD

4 pounds potatoes (unpeeled)

8 ounces sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 bunch chopped green onions

1/2 cup parsley

3 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Boil potatoes in large pot over medium high heat until tender.  Drain.  Cool.  Cut potatoes into thin slices.  Combine sour cream, Mayonnaise,mustard, salt and pepper.  Layer in a clear baking dish, potatoes, sour cream mix, green onions and parsley, layer same again.  Cover and chill 1 hour.  Sprinkle with bacon before serving. 

                                                    
                                                        STRAWBERRY STACK CAKE

2 Small Crates of Fresh Strawberries (washed and sliced, except leave some pretty ones whole too)

3 1/2 cups Whipped Cream

1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 large box Graham Crackers

2 ounces Dark Chocolate (chopped fine)

Whip the whipping cream until it forms peaks.  Slowly mix in the confectioners sugar and vanilla.  Spread a thin layer of whipped cream in the bottom of a glass oblong baking dish.  Lay six whole graham crackers over this.  Spread a layer of strawberries over that.  Repeat this process until you have four layers of graham crackers.  Spread the last of  one-half of the whipped topping over the top layer and swirl with a spoon for decorative purposes.  You should have half of the whipped topping left over.  Heat it until bubbles form around the edges.  Remove from heat and drop in the chopped dark chocolate.  Stir together until chocolate is melted and well blended into a gouache.  Pour into a squeeze bottle and drizzle over cake.  Cover and refrigerate for six hours.  Garnish with fresh strawberries before serving. 

FIG CAKE WITH BUTTERMILK GLAZE

Ingredients For Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped fresh figs

1 cup chopped pecans

Ingredients for Glaze:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together first 7 ingredients.  Fold in eggs, oil and buttermilk.  Stir in vanilla.  Fold in figs and pecans.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes.  While cake is baking make a glaze by boiling all of the above glaze ingredients in a small saucepan for 3 minutes.  Pour over cake. 

You can rest assured that there will be no need for entertainment.  With this many fathers in one room, there will be lots of stories to share!

 

Happy Father's Day Dads!!!!!!